Lockdown PD- PB4L Restorative Practice Workshop

Reflection:

Today I attended professional development about Connectedness - Whakawhanaungatanga. This was run by the University of Waikato. Connectedness is particularly important while we are all learning from home in lockdown level 4. 

I appreciated how interactive and engaging this zoom session was- it provided a lot of practical examples to use with Tamariki. 

Some of the ideas were specific to zoom but there were lots that are also applicable to Google Meet. 

New Learnings: 

One tool that we were introduced to that I believe will be useful is 'We Connect Cards' 

The cards display different movements and you can pop them up onto your online call for students to quickly brain break during your class calls. 

Here is an example of one: 

You can also create connectedness on your class calls by having students try to high-five one another or connect hands with the students in the square next to them. 

We were also introduced to the idea of creating a 'chat storm'. This is where students type their answers to questions in the chat bar but wait until the teacher says 'go' before they submit their idea. This engages the students and helps to ensure they are all participating. 

When asking students about their wellbeing on class calls- different layers of questioning (soft/heavy questions mixed together) helps students to open up and feel comfortable. 

Adaptations/tools to use in my practice: 

One of the ideas that I learned about that I will be using in my upcoming class calls is 'State of Play'. This is where students cover their screens and then when the teacher says go, they show on their face how they are feeling/what state they are in. 

I had been using a wellbeing document but I feel as though this is a great, more interactive, activity. 

The second idea that I will be using is sending students on a treasure hunt around their homes to find different objects. I think that this is a great way to connect with students and keep them engaged. 

Finally, an important message that I gained from this PD was designing our learning for contribution as opposed to consumption of knowledge while students are learning from home.